CONWAY, S.C. (AP) — Colby Thorndyke and Ty Dooley each hit a home run, Cameron Flukey had nine strikeouts and host Coastal Carolina beat No. 4 seed Fairfield 10-2 at the Conway Regional on Friday night.
Top-seeded Coastal Carolina, making its fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, plays third-seeded East Carolina and Fairfield takes on Florida in an elimination game Saturday. ECU beat the No. 2 seed Gators 11-6 earlier Friday.
Flukey (7-1) gave up two runs on three hits over seven innings. Hayden Johnson and Jaxon Appelman each threw a no-hit inning of relief for Coastal Carolina (49-11),
Walker Mitchell was hit by a pitch with two out on the first and scored when Blake Barthol reached on an error to give the Chanticleer the lead for good.
Fairfield (39-18) is making its third NCAA Tournament appearance in program history and first since 2016 despite winning the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular season title five times during that span.
Wells Sykes hit an RBI single and scored on a double down the right-field line by Caden Bodine to make it 3-0 in the second.
Mitchelll and Barthol had back-to-back RBI singles to cap a four-run sixth that gave Coastal Carolina an 8-2 lead.
Fairfield starter Ben Akelson (9-2) gave up seven runs — three earned — on six hits with six strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings.
Nolan Colby hit a solo shot for the Stags and Tyler Kipp added an RBI single.
Schedule
No. 2 Florida vs. No. 4 Fairfield, 3 p.m.
No. 3 East Carolina vs. No. 1 Coastal Carolina, 7 p.m.